On the evening of March 20, the Taiping Army had surrounded Nanchang City.
"All preparations, fire!"
boom! boom! boom!
At Shi Dakai's order, the cannon's muzzle erupted with fire, and the shells flew towards the Nanchang city wall like lightning.
"Notify the whole army, don't save your shells and artillery, just finish them all in one go."
Shi Dakai stood on the front line, looking at this ancient city.
The fierce artillery fire soon blasted a large hole in the city wall, sending masonry fragments flying everywhere.
"rush!"
The Taiping soldiers shouted excitedly, rushed towards the city wall, and began a fierce siege.
On the other side of the city wall, the Qing army tried to fight back with various weapons, but they were all repelled by artillery fire.
For a time, the battlefield was filled with smoke and flames.
After a fierce battle, the Taiping Army began to attack the city. Thousands of soldiers rushed into the city with muskets.
Siege warfare began to evolve into street fighting.
The Qing army was very brave. After firing the bullets from their muskets, they used their machetes. However, due to their absolute superiority in numbers and firepower, they could not hold on.
This time, there was not a single deserter among the young soldiers, and they actually fought to the last soldier. Zuo Zongtang was really good at leading the troops.
This kind of talent must not be let go.
When you walk into Nanchang Government Office, the first thing you see is the tall gate tower and majestic architecture.
Zuo Zongtang was sitting in the seat in the middle of the lobby, holding a big knife in his right hand with a plaque reading "Justice and Integrity" hanging above it.
"Brother Ji Gao (Zuo Zongtang), the corruption of the Qing Dynasty has reached its core. Why don't you abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side?"
Shi Dakai took Peng Dashun, Tan Tiyuan and Zeng Guofan into the lobby.
Zuo Zongtang stared angrily, and when Shi Dakai reached a few meters away from the seat, he stood up instantly, raised his knife and rushed towards Shi Dakai.
And shouted: "Rebel against thieves with your own hands, and pledge your life to the country!"
The generals under Shi Dakai were not vegetarians either. Peng Dashun and Tan Tiyuan rushed forward.
Peng Dashun put his hands against Zuo Zongtang's right hand, and the sword stood still in the air. Tan Tiyuan took advantage of the situation and locked Zuo Zongtang's left hand and neck.
It took a lot of effort for the two of them to subdue Zuo Zongtang.
"To pledge yourself to the country?"
"It's ridiculous. Can the Qing Dynasty represent the country?"
“It’s okay not to want this kind of dynasty that makes people’s lives worse than death.”
Shi Dakai said coldly.
"I'll give you a choice, either join our army for one year and I won't stop you from leaving or staying after one year, or I will massacre the city and the whole city will die because of you."
Shi Dakai continued to stage moral kidnapping, and sure enough, this guy still compromised.
Zeng Guofan looked at this familiar scene and remained silent.
After occupying Nanchang, we have a little bit of capital.
All the landlords who had previously fled into Nanchang were escorted to the Nanchang government office one by one, and an announcement was made that they would be executed immediately.
Many people came to watch.
"From now on, no one will oppress you anymore. From today on, you will get the land and be executed!"
The people clapped their hands and cheered.
"With today's incident, I will announce one more thing."
"From now on, Nanchang Mansion will no longer have princes, generals and ministers. Nanchang Mansion will belong to the people of the whole city!"
"Our army is not loyal to the emperor, but to every common people. You will know the meaning of this sentence in the future."
The people were confused after hearing this. Such words have been unheard of for so many years, but being able to get the land is enough for them to recognize it and be willing to sacrifice their lives for it.
Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang both looked at him in surprise. After reading Confucius for so many years, they had also read that "water can carry a boat, and it can also overturn it." They had never heard that ordinary people could still be the masters of their own country.
Moreover, these words actually came from a rebel leader in his early 20s.
"Awakening a nation that has been dominated by feudal ideas for nearly two thousand years cannot be accomplished overnight."
Shi Dakai said to himself.
Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang next to them were confused again after hearing this. They didn't know what the feudal thought here meant.
The defenders in Fuzhou, Yichun, and Xinyu were unwilling to fight after seeing the fall of Nanchang. They retreated to Ji'an one after another, hoping to join forces to resist tenaciously.
As a result, Nanchang is basically stable.
As for Nanjing, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is now gradually declining, and it cannot break with it now, so it spent 100,000 taels of silver to smoothen the relationship between the upper levels and gave it to various concubines of Yang Xiuqing and Hong Xiuquan, as well as ministers in the DPRK and China, to prevent them from issuing orders. Let me continue my western expedition.
The next step is to focus on building a first-rate iron army in China.
Indispensable for building an iron army are weapons and ammunition. The most advanced cannons in the world are the Napoleon cannons of the Gallic Kingdom, the guns are the Minnies of the Mizi country, and grenades are not so widely used nowadays.
China's current productivity is not enough to produce the necessary weapons and equipment, so it can only seek help from foreigners.
And to find foreigners, you must have money.
In two months it will be the World Expo in Paris.
If I remember correctly, a metal more precious than gold attracted much attention at this expo.
Just use the funds saved from beating the landlords to do something big.
